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WHO: Gaby and Casper
WHERE: Morningstar Safehouse
WHEN: Night of June 23
WHAT: Casper wakes up fully recovered. Gaby and he have a conversation.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: N/A

[ night in the safehouse may be a matter of routine over any external factors, but necessary to try and keep in place all the same. the lights go down and quiet falls, even those who find sleep hard to come by being careful not to disturb anyone else. it's a few hours past midnight when the beeping starts: a repeated, gentle tone audible through the ajar med room door. the medi-unit issuing an alert, though the sound is more soft and positive than an urgent call for attention. ]

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[ the alert is the sound she's waited for for the last two days, hoping that Casper might deliver the answers that both she and El couldn't find. there is no rush to move to the unit, but should anyone see her, concerned by the sound, she'll raise a hand. it's fine. don't come with her.

her finger hits a button on the machine one she reaches it, and it begins to enter its next cycle before Casper's release.

it's time to talk. ]

[ it's the sensation like cold trickling through him that finally has casper pushing out of the dark fog of semi-consciousness and opening his eyes. immediately confronted by the clear shell of the medi-unit's tank above him, he blinks, disoriented, his brain unfurling the last few hours of conscious memory in a confused mess of pain and violence. his heart rate spikes, adrenaline pumping. fear. he shifts, head twisting to try and see what's around him, one hand jerking upwards, hitting sharply against the glass. ]

[ the haze of the last two days all but confirms that Casper wouldn't be in good shape when he woke up. does he remember what he did? where he was? he certainly hadn't been in his right mind to lead all these people here without checking to see if it was the right idea in the first place

Morningstar are meant to be the good guys. they can't do good if they're exposed, and they've done well to avoid that.

her hands move swiftly, hitting the next series of buttons – including a code, to verify the end of the season for their systems – before the glass slides off. it's almost soundless as it does. Gaby takes a step back, offering a hand to Casper at the same time. her free hand moves to brush her hair off her face, combing it back haphazardly. she's slept, but not much. she's had to have her ear to the ground. ]

Rise and shine. Hope you're up for a chat.

[ the immediate press of fear diminishes for the familiar non-sound of the glass retracting, the sight of a face he associates easily with safety. disorientation still lingers, his gaze darting around the med room, looking for anything else he can recognize, put into context. it makes him slow to take the offered hand and use it to pull himself upright, swing his legs around. the movement's enough to tell him not to hop down yet. muscles stiff, legs a little shaky. how long had he been down? ]

Can I get some water?

[ the rasp of his voice is evidence enough of how dry his throat is. and Gaby doesn't look happy. she never looks happy, but in the situation, the pieces his brain has started to kick into gear and put together, he can tell this chat isn't going to be a gentle one. ]

Right. Yes. I suppose that would make things easier.

[ there's the sense that she doesn't want it to be easier. she wants to be harsh. sadistic. Gaby wants to remind him of how many protocols he broke. wants him to feel guilty. she won't go as far as to do that.

he knows enough to know she got saddled with his mess. his mistake.

his decision that may be the right one.

she turns to grab out a container of water, handing it off to him after she takes off the lid. his fingers may be weak. she's not as sadistic as she wants to be right now. ]

[ he takes the water gratefully, careful to only take a few sips rather than gulp as much as he wants down all in one go. more awake now, things are starting to make more sense, and he remembers all the warnings of what not to do immediately after medi-unit treatment. ]

Anyone else make it?

[ he doesn't look at her as he asks, toying the container around between his fingers slowly instead. he thinks he knows the answer already. he'd seen it. the medi-unit hadn't done anything to clear the image of all the bodies on that street out of his head. ]

You know the answer to that, Casper.

[ Gaby can only begin to grasp the extent of what he's feeling. his trauma. what he's been through. but he'd been there and she was here, and she still lacks answers. she's caught between a rock and a hard place. she has to know.

there's the sickening sense of expendability. she hasn't let herself linger on it. doesn't want to think it's a real factor. but it's there. just out of reach. ]

You shouldn't have made it, either. Couldn't you have just picked one or two of them to haul your ass back here?

[ she doesn't mean that.

it doesn't matter what she means when she hasn't seen sunlight in days and she's been on a shift that was supposed to end some time ago. her nerves are fried. ]

[ he'd had a small hope that someone might have made it later, crawled back some time after he'd been shoved in the medi-unit. gaby's reaction confirms that it isn't true. he lets it die, quietly, grip tightening on the water container for a moment before he swallows the grief down. there's them to think of. them that he'd brought back here, that must still be here. he shakes his head. ]

They all clumped together like sheep.

[ in those white scrubs, with their hair all cut to the same kind of length, standing in the aftermath of the wreckage. they'd looked completely alien. he'd never seen anything like it. he takes another sip of water. ]

The cops were coming. I wasn't gonna leave them there. Not after what they'd cost.

No, but they could have cost more. They may still cost more.

[ she doesn't chastise him so he feels bad. it's instinct. frustration. taking it out on him.

Gaby sighs. looks away. the way he grips that bottle. none of those people out there care about the cost to save them. not really. they look at Morningstar as a threat.

maybe she's an idealist. maybe she doesn't belong here, dealing with this. it's hard to say. Morningstar did good in saving them. but they killed a whole lot of people to get here. Casper is all that remains. will he be able to handle the survivor's guilt?

Gaby removes herself from that sentiment. acts like she wouldn't have condoned the act. she wouldn't have. she didn't. it's how she's keeping down how she feels instead of screaming at the next person who acts like she's got them chained up. ]

Whoever held them was on orders to die to keep them. Was that the sense you got?

[ first a statement – an observation. then a question – seeing if her observation is correct. ]

Because that's UNA nonsense. Or the equivalent. Who the fuck inspires that kind of –

[ – loyalty? no. duty. ]

– duty in their people?

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